Wa Lone

In this Burmese name, the given name is Wa Lone. There is no family name.
Wa Lone
ဝလုံး
Wa Lone in 2018
Born
Wa Lone

Myanmar
SpousePan Ei Mon

Wa Lone (Burmese: ဝလုံး; born c. 1986) is a Reuters journalist and children's author who, with fellow reporter Kyaw Soe Oo, was arrested on 12 December 2017 in Myanmar because of their investigation into the Inn Din massacre. A police witness testified that their arrest was a case of entrapment. It is believed to have been intended to intimidate journalists.

The case received international attention. During 2018, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo received a number of international awards, including being listed among Time magazine's Persons of the Year for 2018. They have been the subject of human rights appeals by Amnesty International, PEN America, and Reporters Without Borders.

The 2019 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize was awarded to Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo on 11 April 2019 for their "courage and commitment to freedom of expression".[1] On 16 April 2019, the two journalists were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.[2][3] They were released on 7 May 2019 after a presidential amnesty.[4][5]

  1. ^ Davies, Wilder (11 April 2019). "Reuters Journalists Jailed in Myanmar to Receive U.N. Press Freedom Prize". Time. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  2. ^ Watson, Angus (16 April 2019). "Imprisoned Myanmar journalists awarded Pulitzer prize". CNN. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  3. ^ Trotta, Daniel (16 April 2019). "Jailed Reuters reporters, U.S. border photographers win Pulitzer..." Reuters. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  4. ^ Goldman, Russell; Ives, Mike (2019-05-06). "Myanmar Releases Reuters Journalists Jailed for Reporting on Rohingya Crackdown". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  5. ^ "Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo: Reuters journalists freed in Myanmar". BBC News. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-07.